90 miles to Cuba

Good morning friends!! I am (finally) going to catch up. I think. Probably not. There are so many blog-worthy things that are happening in our daily lives that maybe I need to just put blogging on our schedule. And for those of you who know me well know that Carl and I (by association) loooooove schedules and lists 🙂 The homeschooling schedule is in a constant state of flux, I have about 6 various lists on my phone, and of course the normal to-do and grocery lists. So, since I am, yet again, behind, let’s go back to last Friday when the kids and I drove from Key Largo to Key West.

Let me say this first. Do not underestimate the time it takes to go 90 miles. To help you out a bit, the Riptide RV Park was located at mile marker 97.5. Everything in the Keys is found or described by its mile marker. So, there we were, and we were headed to mile marker 0. That would be 97.5 miles. Or in most people’s mind a little less than 2 hours. Totally do-able as a round trip in one day kinda drive. It took us almost 3 hours. I kid you not! So, in my opinion, now that I’ve made that trip, if you are driving…make sure you stay overnight!

Anyway, we started out at about 10 thinking we’d get there by noon. As you can see from above we got there and on our trolley tour at about 1pm. Which is totally fine by the way. We’ve realized that short(er) touring events are much more enjoyed by all of us if they are short and easy. The trolley, with its open on/off’s was the best way for us to see the city. We had a great time (me and Grace with the actual tour and Sy and Annalea with the ride and the views!). During the tour the one thing we really wanted to see was the southern most point of the continental US. And no, smarty pants, that is NOT mile marker 0. Mile marker 0 is just the end of Hwy 1. This is the actual southern most point:

southern most point in continental US

Carl’s thoughts on this picture: “Sy looks like he’s about to cry”

We took a funny picture too, while waiting for the trolley to pick us up:

Sy and Annalea being funny!

One thing we’ve been exposed to is a food called Conch. And for those of you, who like me, say the word phonetically, it’s actually pronounced like Conk. However, regardless of the spelling, we’ve tried Conch a few different ways. The way we tried it in Key West was in the form of a fritter! Mighty tasty…especially with the key lime sauce!

Grace with our Conch Fritters!

Now, at sunset, the thing to do as well as the place to be in Key West (if you’re a tourist anyway) is Mallory Square. They have crafters, acrobats, and magic shows among other things. We enjoyed eating our fritters and walking around the square checking things out. There was a show that was rather disappointing in the manner in which he verbally presented himself…so we didn’t watch him. However, we ended up finding a very funny young man doing tricks on a really tall unicycle.

unicycle guy

There were also AMAZING views of the sunset over the water while we were walking the square

Mallory Square sunset!

Of course, while we were out, we built up quite an appetite. So, after researching and checking reviews, we ended up at Dante’s. We had quite a variety of food for dinner! Burgers, po’boys, sweet potato fries, and some salmon. All in all quite a lovely experience eating pool side with live music!

Dante's Key WestSy being Sy at dinnerGrace and Mommy at Dante's Key West

And, as I was told many times, you can’t go to Key Anywhere and NOT eat Key Lime Pie. So, as was suggested on our trolley tour, we stopped by this place and had some pie. It wasn’t blow me away, but I figured out that I’m not really a key lime pie kinda gal 🙂

After the pie, and ice cream for the younger folk, and a 15 minute walk back to the truck, we were on our way home. It was an even longer drive the second time around! The kids were out by mile marker 10 and I was praying I’d make it home…which we did 🙂 And of course, the very next day was Lauren’s wedding!

So stay tuned if you want to see what the perfect bride looks like!! I hope to get the next post up tomorrow because there are many many more waiting in the wings!

I love that you got to try Conch and authentic *Key* Lime Pie! The Key’s are just amazing, aren’t they? I love all these pictures, Mary! I gotta say, that picture of you and Grace– you two look like sisters! That’s crazy! She looks so grown up and beautiful, and you look so young! Thank you for posting these updates– I love reading them!